Shipping container



Sept. 3, 1935. E. s. GOMES SHIPPING CONTAINER 2 Sheets-Shee t 1 Filed Jan. 11, 1934 Sept. 3, 1935. E. s. GOMES SHIPPING CONTAINER Filed Jan. 11, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Sept. 3, 1935 PATENT OFFICE SHIPPING Earl S. Gomes,

CONTAINER Cincinnati, Ohio Application January 11, 1934, Serial No. 706,239

4 Claims.

My invention relates to shipping containers and more particularly to a fibreboard carton used for shipping radios and/or refrigerator cabinets and the like when the cabinet to be shipped is designed to be shipped without legs attached and/ or when the cabinet is designed with a base reaching to or nearly to the floor.

Heretofore various types of inner supports for shipping containers of the class described and especially for fibreboard cartons have been devised but all of said supports, to the best of my knowledge, consume an excessive amount of space, or are expensive to make, or are not practicaL' The object of my invention, generally stated, is to provide improved inner supports for shipping containers of the class described which are simple, efiicient, economical to manufacture, easily inserted within and removed from the container and which will securelysupport the article to be shipped and which will afford a cushion to assist in absorbing the shocks and blows in transit br comm'on to the handling of such containers.

More specifically stated, my object is to provide a container with inner supports which may be quick y set up -or knocked down and which is inexpensive to manufactureand which will hold a radio cabinet or like article suspended on its base and in such a manner that all parts of the cabinet will be so held that no' part thereof will come into contact with the carton or outer container.

My invention consists in the construction, combination, location and arrangement of parts, all as herein set forth and claimed.

In the drawings;

' Fig. 1 is a face view of a container with parts broken away showing my improved inner supports'with the cabinet upside down in the container.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a container with a portion broken away showing my improved inner supports partly in section, with the cabinet upside down in the container.

Fig. 3 isa plan view of my improved inner supports before bending.

Fig. 4 is an isometric view of my improved inner support clearly showing its assembly.

Fig. 5 is a face view of the bottom of the container showing my improved inner supports for spacing an article to be shipped from the bottom and side walls of the container, and one type of wooden rider strip.

Fig. dis a fragmentary sectional view of Fig. 1 showing my improved inner support in section.

Fig. 7 is an isometric view showing a modification of my improved inner support shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 8 is an isometric view showing a modification of my improved inner support shown in "5 Fig. 4.

Fig. 9 is an isometric view showing a modification of my improved inner support shown in Fig. 4. s

Fig. 10 is a plan view of a blank which maybe 10 folded into a modification of my improved inner support shown in Fig. 4, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 11 and Fig. 12.

Fig. 11 is an isometric view of a modification of I my improved inner support shown in Fig. 4, illustrating the blank shown in Fig. 10 partly folded.

Fig. 12 is an isometric View of a modification of my improved inner support shown in Fig. 4, clearly showing the assemblyof the blank shown in Fig. 10.

Fig. 13 is a face view of a container with portions broken away showing my improved inner supports and means for spacing an article to be shipped from the side walls and top and bottom of the container. 7

Fig. 14 is an isometric view of my improved inner support showing one style of cabinet rider partly in section, to clearly illustrate the assembly of these parts and showing an outline of the base of a cabinet in relation to the rider strip and my an improved inner supports.

The structure hereinafter described is particularly adapted to be used as a shipping container for console radio cabinets with or without radio receiver and/or speaker installed, or any other like cabinet or piece of furniture, as, for example,

a refrigerator cabinet.

In the embodiment of my invention as illustrated and which shows a preferred construction in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 13 and 14 I provide a shipping container I, which is preferably, but not necessarily composed of fibreboard which is provided with side flaps 22 and end flaps 3--3, at the top and bottom to close the top and bottom of said container in a manner well known.

Referring now in detail toone of the inner supports for the container I, I have shown a radio cabinet as the article to be shipped and which is designated 4, and partly shown in Figs. 1, 2, '5, 6 and 13, but it is to be understood that various other articles, such as a refrigerator cabinet or certain types of furniture, can be shipped, the inner supports not being limited to supporting radio cabinets but being adapted to support any article of a similar nature.

As shown in detail in Fig. 3, 5 designates the body of one of the inner supports which is preferably formed from a blank of corrugated or other fibreboard scored and died out so that when said blank is folded it will appear as shown in Fig. 4. This body 5, being scored on the lines 6, l, 8, 9, iii and M, respectively, and died out at 1 l2 and 33, when bent forms container wall cushion I4, and container bottom cushion E5. E6 represents the substantially solid flat panel, a detail of which is shown in Fig. 3.

After the body 5 has been scored and died out as described, the flat panel l6 can be preferably attached to the body 5 in any suitable manner as, for example, by nails H, as shown in Fig. 3,

or the flat panel it can be simply folded up in the body 5, as shown in Fig. 4, where the folded blank 5 holds the flat panel l6 securely in position within the container, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

and better illustrated in Fig. 13. After the body 5 has been folded about the flat panel It, as shown in Fig. 4, the died-out spaces i2 and I3 form the recess I8, as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

In the present showing I have illustrated a Wooden cabinet supporting brace iii in connection with the base of the cabinet l, preferably with nails 2il2ll, as shown in Fig. 5. This cabinetsupport i9 is to be of such dimension as to fit into recess i8, shown in Fig. 4, and so positioned as to firmly hold the base of the cabinet in spaced-apart relation with the two oppositely dispjosed sides of the container, while the wall cushion M, of each end support, holds the base of the cabinet in spaced-apart relation with the two ends .of the container, with the base of the cabinet partly resting upon the bottom cushion E5 of the end'supports; thus the cabinet or article to be shipped is held in spaced-apart relation with the walls and bottom of the container.

In Fig. 13 I illustratethe cabinet packed in the container I, with parts of the container l broken away'to show the relative position of the cabinet 4, and the interior packing in the container. Fig, 13 shows a cabinet body which extends out beyond the base of the cabinet. Fig. 14 shows one type of wooden support 59-4 9, whereinthe wooden support extends beyond the base of the cabinet d to maintain the body of the cabinet in spaced-apart relation with the walls of the container; in this showing the cross strips ll-2| are used in connection with and attached to wooden supports l9l9, preferably with nails '2222. The cross strips 2 l2i are so positioned away from the base of the cabinet ithat they will not rub or mar the base of said cabinet and are so connected with wooden supports iii-l9 as to rest against the end wall cushions iii-4A and the bottom cushions i5---! 5 of my improved inner supports within the container, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 13.

To maintain the top of cabinet d in spaced apart'relation with the top and walls of the con tainer I, it will be obvious that it is desirable to provide spacing means 23-2fl for the top of said container, such as is shown in Fig. 13. This may be accomplished by folded blanks of a construction such as shown and described in detail in my prior Patent Re. 18,892, or other similar or catisfactory spacing means.

In the drawings Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 show the preferred blank construction while Figs. '7, 13 and 14 show a variation of the preferred blank construction. Figs. 8, 9, l0, l1 and 12 show modifications of the preferred construction. In Fig. 7, the blank is designated as 5a; likewisefib designates the blank of Fig. 8; 5c designates the blank of Fig. 9 and 5d designates the blank of Figs. 10, 11 and 12.

It is thought that the drawings clearly show the method of setting up the complete container and therefore a detailed description thereof is deemed unnecessary.

In the present showing an ordinary shipping carton of a type well known to the trade is illustrated and in practice such a container may be assembled by opening up the shipping carton with the bottom flaps in closed position and the top flaps bent back in open position; the cabinet with wooden support attached is placed within the carton, means for holding the cabinet in spaced-apart relation with the top and outside walls of the carton are inserted over and about the top of the cabinet, the top flaps are closed and sealed and the carton is turned upside down, the bottom flaps of the carton are then bent back in open position, my improved inner supports are then placed in the carton and correctly positioned in connection with said Wooden support and the bottom flaps of the carton are then closed and sealed, the carton is turned right side up and is ready to be marked for shipment. While one method of assembling'by improved inner supports within the container is herein described various methods of inserting said supports-may be used.

My improved inner support of the present invention may be self-contained or it'may'be in separate parts as herein described.

It is a common practice to use a soft tissue or waxed paper or other suitable material to protect the finish of the cabinet where the surface of the cabinet comes into direct contact withthe interior supports of the container.

An advantage of my invention is that a very small amount of material is used to obtain highly satisfactory results.

Another advantage of my invention over prior art is that a wall cushion and a bottom cushion is formed about a substantially solid panel to firmly hold the article packed in proper position within the container whereby the cushions provided absorb much of the jolts and jars of handling and whereby the bottom of the container is well reinforced. l

Another advantage of my invention over prior art is that when the article to be packed is light in weight the substantially solid panel may be dispensed with and the arrangement of the wall cushion and bottom cushion herein described is such as to provide excellent cushions and-protection to the article packed and for maintaining the article packed in proper position within the container.

A still further advantage of my invention is that it can be speedily set up within the container and speedily knocked downand thus allow the article to be packed to be withdrawn from the container and replaced in the same container with but little effort and without in any way damaging the container or the article packed. 7

While I have shown and described one particular embodiment of my invention it will be understood that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope or spirit thereof, as, for example, the modifications shown in the drawings.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: n 1

1. In a shipping container of the class described, a pair of self-contained supports, each support composed of a body member, a portion of said body member adapted to lay parallel with and against the container wall and a portion of said body member with a recess therein adapted to lie parallel with and against the container bottom, a substantially solid member attached to said body member to form a self-contained support, a portion of the upper surface of said solid member to form a supporting ledge and a bottom for said recess in said body member.

2. In a shipping container of the class described, a pair of supports, each support composed of a body member, a portion of said body member adapted to lie parallel with the inner surface of the container wall, and a portion of said body member with a recess therein adapted to lie parallel with the inner surface of the container bottom, a substantally solid member in connection with said body member, a portion of the upper surface of said solid member to form a supporting ledge and a bottom for said recess in said body member.

3. In a shipping container of the class described, a pair of supports, each support composed of an end portion and a bottom portion, said end portion being adapted to lie parallel with and against the container wall, and said bottom portion being adapted to lie parallel with and against said container bottom, the upper surface of said bottom portion with a recess therein being so positioned as to form supporting ledge, a supporting brace mounted in said recesses and a top insert plate whereby the contained article is adapted to be held in spacedapart relation with the carton by said supports, supporting brace and top plate, respectively, said supports, supporting brace and top plate being mounted within the container for the purposes specified.

4. In a shipping container of the class described, a support composed of oppositely disposed members and a means for connecting said members with one another, a portion of said members being adapted to lie parallel with and against the container walls and a portion of said members with a recess therein being adapted to lie parallel with and against the container end, said connecting means being adapted to extend substantially across the container end, a portion of the ends of said means being adapted to fit into said recesses in said members, whereby said members and said connecting means form a substantially rigid support in the end of said container.

EARL S. GOMES. 

